The Office of Outreach and Engagement Recruitment (OER) aims to identify high-achieving students who have the potential to attend highly selective colleges and universities across the country. Through a focus on character and leadership development, we strive to empower students to hone their natural gifts, ignite their imaginations, and prepare to impact the world for the greater good. We offer an online enrichment program, NDignite Connection, to help high-achieving students navigate middle and high school, learn about various pre-college programs, and ultimately prepare for the admissions process at highly selective colleges and universities through using self-awareness to explore their gifts and talents.

Students may apply to the program at the end of their 6th or 7th grade year. Once participants enter into 9th and 10th grades, they matriculate into the second phase of our program where they connect with current Notre Dame students and engage in discussions with peers weekly about meaningful topics. There is no cost to students or their families to participate in the program. By the end of a student's participation in the NDignite Connection program, they will learn about:

life at a highly-selective university

the importance of finding the right college fit

the pre-college and college application processes

how to use their greatest gifts to invest in the lives of others and in their professional careers